Excavating device



Aug. 14, 1928. MWULBZE B. P. CRITTENDEN ET AL EXCAVATING DEVICE vFiled Oct. 1, 1926 RES zmxmmm.

Patented Aug.. 314,192.85.

l e 'pasaras rarest" oserei.

BUTLER- E. CRITTENDEN, FUTERTOVLTN, AND ALVN KILLINGER, OF EVERETT,

MASSACHUSETTS, ASGNOBS T BEACGN (EL CILVPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHU- SETTS, A CORPORATION'OF MASSACHUSETTS, i

EXCAVATIENG DEVICE.

Application Vfiled Gcteber i, 1926. Serial No. 138,878.

This invention relates toexcavating devices for removing masses from 'containers and other uses, the excavatingV devices beino' adapted to operate in respect to impacted D (L v or hard material to bore a comparatively large hole, through and into Which'the material surrounding the hole may be broken:

flown byhand operations.

Important uses for Which devices corre-V sponding to the invention `are particularly suitable are for cleaning the hard coke or accumulated carbon and other analogous residues' out of the soaking drums of petroleum cracking apparatus; for breaking out iilter beds and tank residues; and in general for excavating materials from large containers. In a familiar type of cracking apparatus the soaking drum, for example, is a structure made of heavy boiler plate, Which may be as much asv siX feet in diameter and forty feet high,having pipe connections for through pass of very hot oil., In the course of operation for six or sevendays Vmore or less the coke deposit from the oil treated is sufficient to substantially close off floW,upon

which the usual practice is then to drain'A out any contained liquidthrough a bottom i opening, tov removethe bottom ycover from the soaking vessel, and to dig the carbon outfby such hand-tool methods as mayibe. Since thetemperature is high and there are residual gases, and especially since the carbon deposit in the drums is often such as to oX1-' dize at the temperature at which it has .to

be cleaned out Wheneverv both the bottom',

andtop openings of the soaking drum are open, the operation of cleaning out the coke The .old

is both diiiicult and dangerous.

Way was to use al stopping drill operated from and through the'bottom opening ofv the drum.Y Thenature of thecoke deposit varies greatly; sometimesV it is glass hard, v

st other times it is'friable; but in any case,

the excavating operation Was an arduous'l shown.I which maybe taken from place to moving the deposit comprisesboring a com- .f

paratively large hole in the deposit'from bottomto top, then breaking through the annu-` lar, substantially cylindrical remainder, and.

breaking this down and outthrough the trai hole.

This inveniton has for one of its objects to provide a power-operated device capable Celland other purposes capable of being assem bled and taken apart, and of being transported from one place to another.

` ln the drawings:

Fig. l. is a sectional view of the device in operating position in a Vsoaking drum;

4 Fig. l is an enlarged section on the line 9.-2 of l;

VFig. 3 is ascction on `the line 3 3 of Fig. l; l

Fig.- l is `a section on the line 4.-4: of Fig. l; and

Eig. 5 is of Fig. 1

` The device may'comprise a. borer having an extensible ydriving shaft. l, and a thrust bearing 9, 11 exterior to the container, the shaft being interposed between said bearings and material in the container; having a boring head 2 at one end of said shaft, driving and Vaxially propelling means 3 forimparting-to the shaft'rotary and axial motion, re.- spectivel f; and a shield 4' above the driving mechanism protecting the mechanism against he excavated material.

VReferring first to the means for, imparting motion to the shaft l; for this it is preferred to employ a driving Wheel 5 hav ing a lower plane bearing surface and splfned to the shaft lv by a key 6 on the driving Wheel 'free in a. keyivay' 7 in the shaft. The Wheel 5 may be a belt, gear or Wormwheel driven suitably; as shown and preferred the Wheel 5 is a Worm Wheel driven by a Worm' 8 which, in turn, may be driven in any suitable manner. It

aplan in sectionV on line 5-5 `is convenient, to drive the Worm by a powerful portable reversing motor, not

place about the plant as needed. The device as a Whole may be mounted upon any siut ably solid base, such as the mass of conthrusts due to gravity andoperation of the boring head; base 9 has a central aperture l() beneath and through which the shaft 1 mai.7 extend into a suitable pit, and around Which an annular thrust bearing surface ,crete shown at 9, adapted to resistf the 11 Vmay be a part of the base 9; the annular bearing 11 as illustrated comprises a ball raceway in a metal vring attached to the base 9.

A nut 12 having an upper wide bearing surface and in. threaded engagement with a threaded part 21 of shaft 1, is provided between the base 9 and the wheel 5 and lmay have on its lower portion a ringbear-l ing shown asa ball raceway 13 oppositethe raceway 11 in the base. Between these raceways are arranged balls 14 or any other suitable anti-friction device. The bearingl between the wheel and the4 nut 12 is not so free a. bearing as that between the nut 12 and theV anti-friction devices such as 11 example a brake band 16 in a peripheralv itsv ends with any suitable means for attach-V and' 14, so that nut 12 and wheel 5tend to turn in unison. But when the nut 12 is restrained from rotation, revolution'of the shaft 1 'results in moving shaft 1 and its attachments axiallyby screw motion of the ypart 21 in nut 12. Any suitable means may be provided'for braking the nut 12, for

groove 15 in the nut 12, band 16 being an-v chored at one end 17 yin anysuitablemanner and connected at itsother end 18 to a Vtensioning device, shown asa lever 19 fulcrumed at'20to al suitable projectionv on the base 9. The base and actuating mech- Lanism maybe enclosed in any suitable `casing, not shown. rEhe shaft 1, wheel-5,` worm '8, nut 12,` and brakes 16,17, 19, are not tooV heavyI severally to prevent each from being carried from piace to place' to be re-assein bled where vthe device may be needed. t

Eachsection of shaft 1 is provided at mentv to the next section,shown as a flange 22`which'may be attached to the neXtadjacentvsection by bolts 23 in suitable holes. One end of each section may be provided Vwith a central boss` 24 adapted to fit in a central' recess 25 in the end of thenext adjacent section.V Only one intermediate section 26 is shownbut it isto be under# stoodthat as many intermediate sections asare needed may be inserted inthe device according to the'height or distance desired to be reached by the boring head 2.

The* lower shaft section 21 has providedat its upper portion a Harige `27 slightly larger than the flanges' 22 conical at its periphery for connection with the rotary shield l4, which maybe fastened on it suit ably, Vas by bolts or rivets at28. y 4 A eans are provided for holding at at `tained height one of the upper shaft sec-- tionssuoh as section 26, when it is desired toV insert or take out a section, the lower" sectionv 21 of the shaft 1 being retracted by reversing the motion of wheel 5 for the insertion of' 1an extending section. Such means may comprise a pair of levers '29 which may be pivoted' at SO'to the lower whereupon the bit 1n the coke.`

end of the-soaking drum orvessel 46 to be cleaned, and ifi desired, klock under a hooked lug 29n on the bottom flange of'the drum or vessel 46, Fig. 4. Levers 29 are provided with intermediate arcuate portions 3 1 adapted to engageV the lsha-ft in'one position engage the portions 31 with the'lshaft 26, by alswing bolt 32 and nut 35 pivoted to one of the levers at 83 and fitting a forked vend 3420i' the other lever.. When not in use levers 29 are swung out-ward out of the-way.

'The boringhead 2 may carry l'any effective boring tools, for eiiample,aioentral bit ffoilowedby `a reaming shank V38; this shank'may have longitudinal channels 38 spaced equidistantly to accommodate fold-V ing cutters 41 Vpivotedat 40 between bored` lugson the upper face 42 of a collar 89 integral with roaming shank 38. Cutters 41 inv their. extended position rest against the upper surface 42 of collar 39. The cutters 41 are preferably T-shaped in cross-section, except at the butts boredforpivots40.` Fig. 2, and maybe milled through at the upper edges of their central rib to provide apinof the levers, which are locked together to" i rality'of substantial cutting` teeth 43. The Y baseport-ion`44 ofthe. cutters 41 is relatively heavy, and one or bothof thecorners 45 is. a sharp. cutting edge. so 4that whenthe `,cutters are folded as shown at dotted lines on F 1these' sharp corners 45. constitute conical reaming cutters to bjore a hole relatively smaller than the hole cut bythe cutting'edges 43 when the cutters are in Vthe full line position,` Fig. 1. 1n thisfolded position, thel central ribs of the cutters respectively arehousedv in Vthe corresponding .channels 38ioflthe1reamin`g shank 38.

The device is shownV in Fig. lin'position for boring hole ,vertically upwardly through the contents of soaking'drum 46. which mayas usual be supported well above `ground, as bylugs. 47 resting on a strongframeineludingd beams I'48p The drum,

. maybe provided with suitable heat insulation 49; :Oil is. ordinarily introduced near d the bottom of' the drum through inlet pipes 50 .and carried away near'the Vtop through pipes 51. rIhe usual vapor outletVv 52 and draining pipe53 and valve 54'may be prof `v1ded.r `VVhen 1tV is desired` to clean the/.-

themselves out into lthe position shown in i'ulllines on'plfig. 1. In Vthat position they mayfbore `aholeof the order ofjfour feet The released cut-ters soonfwork.

the central hole. DuringV boring, the op.

erator may maintainV the brake 16 tight enough to advance the cutter with such force as is measuredby the brake friction. From time to time, the detent levers 29 are closed, the motor reversed to'back od the VVscrew section 2l, and a section 26 is inserted.

lt will he observed that the nut 12 and the threaded section of the .boring shaft comprise a type of lifting jack operated by the rotative energy by which the boring shaft l is driven, but weare not to be understood to limit our invention to any particular type of lifting jack since it isoovif ous to those skilled in the art that some other form of lifting jack (for example, another ltind of screw or a fluid pressure jack thrusting coaxially with the shaft at its under end) might be substituted without involving change of operative'eifect except to forego some of the advantages of simplicity of construction and control of the preferred form above explained. Likewise, it will he understood that the described means for rotating the boring shaft l and for extending the shaft l from time to time are not the sole means corresponding to the invention, although preferred instances and recommended forms; and that the rotary cutter shown and described in a preferred instance only of such cutters for usual materials; whereas other forms of cutter might be substituted with benefit for different states of material, all without departing from our invention. t

`We claim:

1. Apparatus for excavating the contents of containers having in combination a thrust bearing 'fxedly mounted onthe axis of an opening into the container, an axially mova ble shaft and propelling means therefor reacting against said thrust bearing, a boring head on said shaft and means for rotating n D and for axially propelling said shaft as a consequence of its rotatiommeans for vary.

ing the propulsion thrust, and means permitting said shaft to be'interposed and removed from interposition between said thrust bearing and said container.

2. Apparatus for excavating the contents of containers having in combination a thrust bearing iixedly mounted on. the axis of an opening into the container, an axially movable shaft and propelling means therefor reacting againstsaid thrust bearing, a bcring head adaited effectively to expand radially to bore a larger hole after entrance into the material to be excavatedon said shaft, and means for rotating and for axially propelling said shaft as a consequence of its rotation, and means for manually varying the propulsion thrust.

Excavator for solids held in a. container having therein, in combination, a thrust bearing in fixed relation to said container', a boring shaft, a boring head on said shaft, means for rotatingsaid shaft in respect to said bearing and means for causing said shaft to thrust axially in respect to said bearing, said shaft being extensible in respect to its length between boring head, and axial thrust causing means, said thrust causing means having' a friction element controllable to vary the force of thrust exerted.

4. -ln an excavator for solids held in containers, in combination, a boring shaft, a boring head on said shaft having a bit rigid and coaxial with said shaft, cutters normally free for radial movement in respect 'to said bit and the axis of said shaft, means on said boring head for limiting the outward movement of said cutters, and means for rotating and axially thrusting upon said shaft.

5. ln an excavator for solids held in containers, in combination, a boring shaft, a boring head on said shaft having a longitudinally recessed bit rigid and coaxial with said shaft, cutters normally free for radial movement .in respect to said bit and the axis of said shaft, means on said boring head for limiting the outward movement of said cutters, said cutters having cutting edges severally adapted to be housed in said longitudinal recesses at one limit of their motion, and means for rotating and axially thrusting upon said shaft.

6. ln a boring excavator for solids, a boring head having a bit adapted for rigid coaxial mounting on a boring shaft, said boring head comprising a plurality of cutters having effective cutting edges on at least two faces, said bit being recessed, said cutters being mounted for motion in radial planes of said bit between limits, acuttingedge of each' cutter being adapted to be housed in each of said .recesses in one position of the cutters, whereby other of said cutting edges are then effective to ream a hole of one din ameter, the parts in another position being adapted to bore a larger hole.

7. In an excavator for solids held in a container in combination with a thrust bearing ixed in relation to the container, a sectional boring shaft adapted to be separated and assembled, a boring head on the shaft, `means permitting said shaft to be interposed and removed from interposition between said thrust bearing and said container, a drive mechanism for rotating the shaft adapted to be separated from and assembled with the shaft and thrust bearing, a screw jack mechanism for thrusting on the shaft having llls interposed between said shaft and thrust bearing, and means for restraining` free rotation of said interposed screw element in respect to said thrust bearing.

8. An excavatng'device for boring a long hole of large diameter in an upward direc- `tion comprising a sectional shaft mounted 10 for axial movement7 a boring head on the shaft, means in' engagement with the bottom section of the shaftfoi impai'ting motion thereto', and means adapted to grip the sec# tion next to theV bot-tom,V whereby the bottom section may beretia-cted and an inteimedi-v ate section inserted. n

Signed by us at Everett, Massachusetts7 this eighth day of September, 1926.

BUTLER P. CRITTENDEN. ALVIN C. KILLINGERk 

